Various manufacturing processes expose semiconductor process chamber components to high temperatures, high energy plasma, a mixture of corrosive gases, high stress, and combinations thereof. These extreme conditions may erode and/or corrode the chamber components, increasing the chamber components' susceptibility to defects. It is desirable to reduce these defects and improve the components' erosion and/or corrosion resistance in such extreme environments.
Protective coatings are typically deposited on chamber components by a variety of methods, such as thermal spray, sputtering, or evaporation techniques. In these techniques, the surfaces of the chamber components that are not directly exposed to the coating material source (e.g., are not in a line of sight of a material source) are coated with a significantly thinner coating than surfaces that are directly exposed to the coating material source. This may result in poor quality film, a low-density film, or a portion of the chamber component not being coated at all.
Some materials are more resistant to erosion and/or corrosion from particular hostile environments than others.